Perspectives on the beautiful game of soccer; fueled by enormous amounts of coffee

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Galaxy-Dallas running blog

Hey, hey, peopleI wonder if it's hotter in Dallas than LA right now. Hard to imagine. Predictions? I'm calling this one a draw, just like it was in preseason, but this time, I think the teams will score. 1-1.Alvaro is back in the lineup for LA, as is Edson Buddle.Steve Cronin, Greg Vanney,Chris Klein, Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, Alvaro Pires, Joe Franchino, Abel Xavier, David Beckham, Sean Franklin, Brandon McDonaldKickoff!3 - LA with a decent early run of play in terms of possession, but not really in terms of creating chances yet.5 - Becks crosses to Buddle, who puts his shot from the left of the arc wide.6 - Alan Gordon is injured and not available, but Carlos Ruiz is on the sub list.7- No goal. Abe Thompson gets whistled for a foul on Sean Franklin before putting the ball through Cronin's legs.Ooh, and then on the next attack, Kenny Coope shoots wide of goal, but not by much. With less ball possession, Dallas has created far more dangerous chances.9 - Ha, ha, the announcers are reminiscing about the amazing Superliga game these two teams fought last year, mentioning Donovan's throat slash, "It's over gesture". They call him the "California Boy".11 - Then the announcers screw up history by mentioning that LA won MLS cup here in 2004. Nope, it was 2005. Donovan send in a cross to no one, deep in Dallas territory.12 - Pablo richetti could have given up a PK on that Galaxy attack, according to the announcers. Sean kept his feet, though. It's not often you'll hear announcers saying a player should have dived.14 - The English feed broke into Telefutura's for a bit there. Weird. Corner to the Galaxy. LD takes it. Cleared, served back in.15-Another corner. This one served back in, too. The Galaxy are presuring, but the final shots are getting deflected.17 - Pires might be very happy to be back, he wound up on a distance shot put it over the bar.18 -Dallas on the counter, Cooper versus Cronin, who has a great footsave. LA can't control the clear and Cooper gets another chance - outside side netting.19 - Cooper nearly puts one in by distance - Cronin backpedals to push it out - gives up a corner. FC comes close on this, and suddenly, all the momentum is theirs.22 - Becks shows on an overhit pass why he is famous for service from his right leg and not his left.24 - The Galaxy show some decent midfield possession play, but lose composure working the ball around for the final pass.26 - There's a lot of pressure on the Galaxy to score, because no one trusts that shaky defense of theirs.GOAL! Klein gets it done! He overlaps well for the ball, and LD tears off on his run, which pulls defenders to him and Klein keeps instead of crossing, calmly slotting nearpost past Sala. 1-0 Galaxy.27 - Becks, as any good OCD person would, does housekeeping on the streamers on the field before taking a FK. If he does play at Toronto - I say the game will be delayed ten minutes with the combo of Becks cleaning and TFC fans throwing streamers.30 Arturito Alvarez with a wayward cross.31 - AA with a low outside shot. Cronin catches.32 - GOAL! Buddle! LD with a little layoff for Edson, who looks a bit like his namesake as he dribbles nicely past two FC defenders and looses a corker of a shot on goal. 2-0 Galaxy.33- Dallas with a FK, Cronin punches it out safely.GOAL! LD! Davino is covering the angle on the cross but LD changes the angle more acutely and puts it on goal. One announcer thinks Davino deflected it, but I didn't see that. 3-0 Galaxy. Wow.37 - Dallas get a FK on a play that earns Pires a yellow. the service is good, but though they fumble for the ball, the Galaxy eventually clear it. Good chance for FC to cut into the deficit gone by.39 - GOAL! Damn. Off a set play, Dallas can't clear, Sala can't grab the ball and Edson adroitly pokes the ball into the goal. 4-0 Galaxy. That's an impressive cushion, even for one of the league's worst defenses.42 - The announcers are saying that the Galaxy are finally a real team, pointing out that Becks, LD and Gordon have scored all the goals to this point - Gordon is injured, but in this game, others are clearly stepping up for the team. Ruud said he needed leaders. Players are coming forward to lead.43 - LD beats Davino with a move, but Sala is well positioned for the low shot.45 - LD didn't get credit for that one goal - it's now officially a Davino own-goal.45+ Cronin with a low save.Halftime - So far the defense of LA has held, and the offense, well, it's exceeded expectations. Perhaps the heatwave out here prepared LA, because they've been on fire and except for a few bright moments, FC Dallas has been sluggish and stuck in second gear.47 - Match continues - In the SuperLiga shootout - Dallas nearly pulled even. They have to score early to get hope going, though. Rocha shoots from middle distance, but misses.48 - Bobby Rhine and Dominic Oduro are in for Anthony Wallace and Abe Thompson.49 - Rhine comes in studs up on LD, gets a yellow. FK is cleared back.52 - Alvaro comes in hard on Oduro, the crowd boos for a yellow, but doesn't get it. That would have taken Pires out of the match.53 - Ruud's seen enough and pulls Pires for Troy Roberts.54 - Oduro with a low shot, but Cronin saves it.GOAL! Cooper with a good cross to the head of Oduro, who is perfectly positioned. Can Dallas come back? Well, Chivas USA set the standard last night, scoring thre goals in nine minutes, so it's definitely possible. We'll see if LA has poise. 4-1 Galaxy still lead.55 - Great Beckham cross to Buddle, but Sala parries well. FC is going to need Sala to stand strong to crawl back in this.58 - Crossbar! Cooper with a great chance at goal - Cronin should have come out for that cross, instead Cooper darts in faster than one would expect of a six-footer to place a shot that ricochets off the bar.60 - Galaxy corner - leads to another corner. LD took the first, the second belongs to Becks. Becks over hits this one, though Josh Tudela tries to chase it down.62 - Dallas with another chance! Cronin comes out badly on the counter, giving Toja a clear chance at the goal, but he puts it over the bar. Dallas could be as close as 4-3 right now. Instead, it's still 4-1.64 - It's downright weird how the Galaxy can make a 4-1 lead look shaky. Cronin catches the ball as Rhine slides in from close for it.68 - The Galaxy are trying to move the ball around, but I'm not sure it's a good idea to stop going for goal.Oduro with the ball in the box, but Cronin picks it off his foot.69 Becks has dropped far back.70 - Now he's lining up a freekick. It deflects off the wall for a corner.73 - Dallas circling the LA goal, but can't break through.74 - LD in the box! Wide.76 - Serioux late tackle on Beckham, who is furious and shoves the Dallas player. That was a dangerous tackle. Handbags, but it finally gets cleared up. Becks and Alvarez get a yellow for arguing, Serioux is gone for his second yellow.80 - The heat seems to be taking a toll on the FC Dallas comeback. Plus the frustration of the missed chances has to kill energy as well.84 - The Galaxy are getting a couple of chances on the counter, but they're not killing themselves to finish them. They're trying to do what they haven't done much, manage a game. Klein does get a low shot off. Sala saves.86 - GOAL! Buddle with the hat trick! Becks with the service, LD with the decoy pulls defenders and Sala to him, and Buddle finishes nicely via header. 5-1 Galaxy87 - Xavier with a nice play robs the faster Oduro of the ball in the box.89 - Dallas trying to work past the LA bunker.90 - Nothing doing.Final whistle. This might have been Buddle's breakout match. The Galaxy work their way back to .500 with the 5-1 win.